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Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI), characterized by sudden impairment of kidney function, is an uncommon complication following hip fracture surgery that is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. We constructed a nomogram to stratify patients according to risk of AKI after hip fracture surgery to guide clinicians in the implementation of timely interventions., Methods: Patients who received hip fracture surgery from January 2015 to December 2021 were retrospectively identified and divided into a training set (n=448, surgery from January 2015 to December 2019) and a validation set (n=200, surgery from January 2020 to December 2021). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to identify risk factors for AKI after surgery in the training set. A nomogram was constructed based the risk factors for AKI, and was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, calibration curves, and decision curve analysis (DCA)., Results: The mean age was 82.0±6.22 years-old and the prevalence of post-surgical AKI was 13.3%. Age, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, the preexistence of chronic kidney disease (CKD), cemented surgery and the decrease of hemoglobin on the first day after surgery were identified as independent risk factors of AKI after hip fracture surgery, and a predictive nomogram was established based on the multivariable model. The predictive nomogram had good discrimination ability (training set: AUC: 0.784, 95% CI: 0.720-0.848; validation set: AUC: 0.804, 95% CI: 0.704-0.903), and showed good validation ability and clinical usefulness based on a calibration plot and decision curve analysis., Conclusion: A nomogram that incorporated five risk factors including age, ASA score, preexisting CKD, cemented surgery and the decrease of hemoglobin on the first day after surgery had good predictive performance and discrimination. Use of our results for early stratification and intervention has the potential to improve the outcomes of patients receiving hip fracture surgery. Future large, multicenter cohorts are needed to verify the model's performance., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests for this work., (© 2023 Pan et al.)

Rotation axis calibration is crucial for high-precision automatic point cloud stitching in turntable-based 3D scanning systems. To achieve a 360° sampling with a 2D calibrator in rotation axis calibration, this paper proposes a dual-turntable angle cancellation (DTAC) method. DTAC introduces an auxiliary turntable to keep a proper relative angle between the 3D sensor and the calibrator during the calibration process. The auxiliary turntable rotates at the same and opposite angle as the main turntable and cancels the increment of the relative angle. By projecting the feature points on the planar calibrator from real-world space to virtual calibration space, the projected points all share the same rotation axis of the main turntable. Further, a layered circle center extraction (LCCE) algorithm is applied to deal with outlier data points. The algorithm uses a two-step robust estimation strategy combining RANSAC circle fitting with a median noise filter for circle center selection. The standard ball reconstruction experiment shows that the 3D system calibrated by the method achieves a mean absolute error of 0.022 mm and root mean square error of 0.025 mm within the measurement distance of 60-70 cm. Point cloud stitching experiments of different types of objects show that our method outperforms other state-of-the-art methods in stitching accuracy. The DTAC method and LCCE algorithm can improve turntable-based 3D scanning systems.

Two-component system (TCS), which comprises histidine kinases (HKs), histidine phosphotransfer proteins (HPs), and response regulators (RRs), plays essential roles in regulating plant growth, development, and response to various environmental stimuli. TCS genes have been comprehensively identified in various plants, while studies on the genome-wide identification and analysis of TCS in sweet potato were still not reported. Therefore, in this study, a total of 90 TCS members consisting of 20 HK(L)s, 11 HPs, and 59 RRs were identified in the genome of Ipomoea batatas . Furthermore, their gene structures, conserved domains, and phylogenetic relationships were analyzed in detail. Additionally, the gene expression profiles in various organs were analyzed, and response patterns to adverse environmental stresses were investigated. The results showed that these 90 TCS genes were mapped on 15 chromosomes with a notably uneven distribution, and the expansion of TCS genes in sweet potato was attributed to both segmental and tandem duplications. The majority of the TCS genes showed distinct organ-specific expression profiles, especially in three types of roots (stem roots, fibrous roots, tuberous roots). Moreover, most of the TCS genes were either induced or suppressed upon treatment with abiotic stresses (drought, salinity, cold, heat) and exogenous phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA). In addition, the yeast-two hybrid system was used to reveal the HK-HP-RR protein-protein interactions. IbHP1, IbHP2, IbHP4, and IbHP5 could interact with three HKs (IbHK1a, IbHK1b, and IbHK5), and also interact with majority of the type-B RRs (IbRR20-IbRR28), while no interaction affinity was detected for IbHP3. Our systematic analyses could provide insights into the characterization of the TCS genes, and further the development of functional studies in sweet potato., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Huo, Zhao, Liu, Xu, Wang, Xu, Dai, Cui, Han, Liu and Li.)

As a stem variety of lettuce, the fleshy stem is the main product organ of stem lettuce. The molecular mechanism of fleshy stem expansion in stem lettuce is a complex biological process. In the study, the material accumulation, gene expression, and morphogenesis during fleshy stem expansion process were analyzed by the comparative analysis of metabolome, transcriptome and the anatomical studies. The anatomical studies showed that the occurrence and activity of vascular cambium mainly led to the development of fleshy stems; and the volume of pith cells gradually increased and arranged tightly during the expansion process. A total of 822 differential metabolites and 9,383 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by the metabolomics and transcriptomics analyses, respectively. These changes significantly enriched in sugar synthesis, glycolysis, and plant hormone anabolism. The expression profiles of genes in the sugar metabolic pathway gradually increased in fleshy stem expansion process. But the sucrose content was the highest in the early stage of fleshy stem expansion, other sugars such as fructose and glucose content increased during fleshy stem expansion process. Plant hormones, including IAA, GA, CTK, and JA, depicted important roles at different stem expansion stages. A total of 1,805 DEGs were identified as transcription factors, such as MYB, bHLH, and bZIP, indicating that these transcription factor families might regulate the fleshy stems expansion in lettuce. In addition, the expression patterns identified by qRT-PCR were consistent with the expression abundance identified by the transcriptome data. The important genes and metabolites identified in the lettuce fleshy stem expansion process will provide important information for the further molecular mechanism study of lettuce fleshy stem growth and development., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Huang, Li, Liu, Chen, Wang, Wang, Liu and Zheng.)

Colchicine is a tricyclic, lipid-soluble alkaloid which has long been used to treat gout and many immunological diseases. Due to its narrow therapeutic window and long half-life of elimination, colchicine overdose occurs occasionally. Unfortunately, some patients lost their lives because of colchicine overdose or suicide. Acute colchicine poisoning can lead to original gastrointestinal disorders, shock, progressive multiple organ failure, and myelosuppression. Although many researchers in the world performed lots of research, there are currently no specific antidotes for colchicine poisoning. Meanwhile, there are no management guidelines to treat patients with acute colchicine poisoning until now. Herein, we systematically elaborate on the clinical features and progress in the management of acute colchicine poisoning in adults according to the previous literature. This paper will provide some valuable and available information for clinicians., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Medicina Interna (SIMI).)

Background: Peanut is the most essential oil and food crop globally due to its high oil and protein content. Root-knot nematode infects peanut roots, causing poor development and severely limiting peanut yields worldwide. The discovery of peanut genome identified a considerable number of genetic loci controlling the peanut root-knot nematode; however, the molecular mechanism of root-knot nematode remains unknown., Results: The heterogeneous response to root-knot nematode stress in peanut roots was identified using whole-transcriptome RNA-seq. A total of 430 mRNAs, 111 miRNAs, 4453 lncRNAs, and 123 circRNAs were found to have differential expression between infected and non-infected peanuts. The expression profiles of the lncRNA/circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network were developed to understand the potential pathways that lead to root-knot nematodes in peanut roots. During root-knot nematodes stress, a total of 10 lncRNAs, 4 circRNAs, 5 miRNAs, and 13 mRNAs can create competing endogenous RNA and participate in the oxidation-reduction process as well as other biological metabolism processes in peanuts. The findings will highlight the role of peanut ceRNAs in response to root-knot nematodes., Conclusion: The GO classification and KEGG pathway enrichment study of core regulatory networks revealed that ceRNAs are involved in oxidation-reduction, peroxidase activity, lignin synthesis in the xylem, and flavonoid synthesis. Overall, these findings may help researchers better understand the role of non-coding RNAs in response to root-knot nematodes., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Water pollution is a global challenge endangering people's health. In this work, an ultra-efficient photodegradation system of Rhodamine B (RhB) has been established using a graphitic carbon nitride nanosheet (CNNS) as the semiconductor photocatalyst, from which energy is harvested on both the conduction band and valence band by formic acid and hydrogen peroxide, respectively. The optimized FA/H 2 O 2 /CNNS system increases the apparent photodegradation rate of RhB by 25 folds, from 0.0198 to 0.4975 min -1 . Through a comprehensive investigation with reactive oxygen species scavengers, electron paramagnetic resonance, high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, etc ., an oxidative mechanism for RhB photodegradation has been proposed, which combines enhanced charge carrier migration and synergistic generation of multiple radicals. Comparable performance improvements have also been observed for similar systems with different semiconductors, suggesting that such a catalytic system could afford a general approach to enhance semiconductor-catalyzed photodegradation.

Background: 3-Phenylpropanol with a pleasant odor is widely used in foods, beverages and cosmetics as a fragrance ingredient. It also acts as the precursor and reactant in pharmaceutical and chemical industries. Currently, petroleum-based manufacturing processes of 3-phenypropanol is environmentally unfriendly and unsustainable. In this study, we aim to engineer Escherichia coli as microbial cell factory for de novo production of 3-phenypropanol via retrobiosynthesis approach., Results: Aided by in silico retrobiosynthesis analysis, we designed a novel 3-phenylpropanol biosynthetic pathway extending from L-phenylalanine and comprising the phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), enoate reductase (ER), aryl carboxylic acid reductase (CAR) and phosphopantetheinyl transferase (PPTase). We screened the enzymes from plants and microorganisms and reconstructed the artificial pathway for conversion of 3-phenylpropanol from L-phenylalanine. Then we conducted chromosome engineering to increase the supply of precursor L-phenylalanine and combined the upstream L-phenylalanine pathway and downstream 3-phenylpropanol pathway. Finally, we regulated the metabolic pathway strength and optimized fermentation conditions. As a consequence, metabolically engineered E. coli strain produced 847.97 mg/L of 3-phenypropanol at 24 h using glucose-glycerol mixture as co-carbon source., Conclusions: We successfully developed an artificial 3-phenylpropanol pathway based on retrobiosynthesis approach, and highest titer of 3-phenylpropanol was achieved in E. coli via systems metabolic engineering strategies including enzyme sources variety, chromosome engineering, metabolic strength balancing and fermentation optimization. This work provides an engineered strain with industrial potential for production of 3-phenylpropanol, and the strategies applied here could be practical for bioengineers to design and reconstruct the microbial cell factory for high valuable chemicals.

Objective: To investigate the predictive value of early indicators changes in blood test on the prognosis of patients with acute paraquat poisoning., Methods: The clinical data of patients with acute paraquat poisoning admitted to emergency department of Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University from January 2012 to June 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The changes of blood test indexes within 24 hours after admission were collected, including white blood cell count (ΔWBC), neutrophils count (ΔNE), lymphocytes count (ΔLY), monocytes count (ΔMO), arterial partial pressure of oxygen (ΔPaO 2 ), arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (ΔPaCO 2 ), arterial blood pH (ΔpH), bicarbonate radical (ΔHCO 3 - ), base excess (ΔBE), lactate (ΔLac), total protein (ΔTP), albumin (ΔALB), alanine aminotransferase (ΔALT), aspartate aminotransferase (ΔAST), total bilirubin (ΔTBil), direct bilirubin (ΔDBil), blood urea nitrogen (ΔBUN), serum creatinine (ΔSCr), serum calcium concentration (ΔCa 2+ ), and serum potassium concentration (ΔK + ). Multivariate Logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors of prognosis in patients with acute paraquat poisoning, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to analyze the predictive value of ROC curve for the death of patients with paraquat poisoning., Results: A total of 251 patients with acute paraquat poisoning were included, with 99 cases dead, and the mortality was 39.4%. The increase of the markers including ΔWBC, ΔLac, ΔALT, ΔAST, ΔTBil, ΔDBil, ΔBUN, ΔSCr and ΔK + within 24 hours of admission in the death group were significantly higher than that in the survival group; the decrease of the markers including ΔPaCO 2 , ΔHCO 3 - , ΔBE, ΔTP, and ΔALB in the death group were significantly greater than those in the survival group. The variables with statistical significance in the above single factor analysis were included in the multivariate Logistic regression analysis. The results showed that ΔLac, ΔSCr and ΔK + were independent risk factors for the prognosis of patients with acute paraquat poisoning [odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were 1.662 (0.997-2.772), 1.045 (1.010-1.083) and 4.555 (1.190-17.429), respectively, all P < 0.05]. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of ΔLac, ΔSCr and ΔK + for predicting death of patients with acute paraquat poisoning was 0.639 (95%CI was 0.505-0773), 0.811 (95%CI was 0.704-0.917), and 0.649 (95%CI was 0.519-0.779), respectively. When the cut-off of ΔLac was 1.85 mmol/L, the sensitivity was 87.9%, the specificity was 47.7%, and the diagnostic accuracy was 70.2%; when the cut-off of ΔSCr was 37.75 μmol/L, the sensitivity was 84.4%, the specificity was 77.9%, and the diagnostic accuracy was 80.5%; when the cut-off of ΔK + was 0.42 mmol/L, the sensitivity was 36.6%, the specificity was 90.7%, and the diagnostic accuracy was 68.3%. The efficiency of combination of ΔLac, ΔSCr, and ΔK + was greater than a single indicator in predicting death of patients with acute paraquat poisoning, with AUC of 0.911, and 95%CI of 0.834-0.989., Conclusions: ΔLac, ΔSCr, ΔK + within 24 hours of admission were all independent risk factors for the prognosis of patients with acute paraquat poisoning. ΔSCr > 37.75 μmol/L within 24 hours of admission would predict a poor prognosis in the patients with acute paraquat poisoning. Combined analysis of ΔLac, ΔSCr, and ΔK + can predict the prognosis of paraquat poisoning patients more accurately than single index.

The cardiac potassium I Ks current is carried by a channel complex formed from α-subunits encoded by KCNQ1 and β-subunits encoded by KCNE1. Deleterious mutations in either gene are associated with hereditary long QT syndrome. Interactions between the transmembrane domains of the α- and β-subunits determine the activation kinetics of I Ks . A physical and functional interaction between COOH termini of the proteins has also been identified that impacts deactivation rate and voltage dependence of activation. We sought to explore the specific physical interactions between the COOH termini of the subunits that confer such control. Hydrogen/deuterium exchange coupled to mass spectrometry narrowed down the region of interaction to KCNQ1 residues 352-374 and KCNE1 residues 70-81, and provided evidence of secondary structure within these segments. Key mutations of residues in these regions tended to shift voltage dependence of activation toward more depolarizing voltages. Double-mutant cycle analysis then revealed energetic coupling between KCNQ1-I368 and KCNE1-D76 during channel activation. Our results suggest that the proximal COOH-terminal regions of KCNQ1 and KCNE1 participate in a physical and functional interaction during channel opening that is sensitive to perturbation and may explain the clustering of long QT mutations in the region. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Interacting ion channel subunits KCNQ1 and KCNE1 have received intense investigation due to their critical importance to human cardiovascular health. This work uses physical (hydrogen/deuterium exchange with mass spectrometry) and functional (double-mutant cycle analyses) studies to elucidate precise and important areas of interaction between the two proteins in an area that has eluded structural definition of the complex. It highlights the importance of pathogenic mutations in these regions.

Objective: To evaluate the protective effect of bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) on paraquat (PQ)-induced acute lung injury (ALI) and investigate the possible underlying mechanisms., Methods: Male Sprague Dawley rats were treated with BMSCs (3 × 10 6 ) 1 h after intraperitoneal injection of PQ. The cell apoptosis rate and mitochondrial membrane potential in rat pulmonary alveolar type II epithelial (ATII) cells were quantitated by flow cytometry. IL-17, IL-6, and MUC5B levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and ATII culture medium were measured. Lung tissues were collected to determine the wet-to-dry (W/D) ratios and lung injury scores, in addition to the protein and mRNA expression levels of ERK1/2, Bcl-2, Bax, and muc5b., Results: BMSCs had decreased mRNA expression of Muc5b in lung tissue of rats with PQ-induced ALI as shown by RNA-seq. Treatment with BMSCs also alleviated the PQ-induced increases in protein expression in the BALF and reduced the concentration of IL-17, IL-6, and Muc5b in both the BALF and ATII culture medium. In addition, the ATII cell apoptosis rate and mitochondrial membrane potential, as well as the W/D ratios, were decreased by BMSC treatment. Moreover, BMSCs ameliorated the expression levels of Bax mRNA and active caspase-3 proteins and increased Bcl-2 mRNA expression. Furthermore, BMSCs attenuated ERK1/2 activation upon PQ-induced ALI in lung tissue., Conclusion: BMSC therapy can protect against PQ-induced ALI in rats. A possible mechanism is the suppression of the muc5b and ERK/MAPK signaling pathways, resulting in an improvement in the endothelial permeability and a decrease in inflammation and cell apoptosis., Competing Interests: None.

A novel simple, sensitive and reliable sensor based on S1 nuclease, FAM-labeled ssDNA (DNA-F) and graphene oxide (GO) was developed for detecting adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and evaluating the freshness of meat (beef) samples. With S1 nuclease as the cleaver of DNA-F and ATP as the inhibitor of S1 nuclease, the fluorescence of DNA-F could be obviously quenched by GO, which exhibits the fluorescence of system gradually decrease as the increasing ATP concentration. Under the optimal conditions, a linear correlation between the fluorescence and the ATP concentration from 20 μM to 3500 μM is obtained with a detection limit of 3.2 μM. Furthermore, the proposed ATP detection method was applied to the ATP detection in microorganisms in meat samples, which acquired the satisfying results, respectively., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Central nervous system (CNS) diseases can cause a series of neuronal lesions, which may be improved by the anti-apoptotic neuroprotection of transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1). In neurons, L-type Ca 2+ channels (LTCC) are mainly composed of Cav1.2 subunits. Given the implication of TGF-β1 in numerous CNS diseases, we examined the neuroprotective effects of TGF-β1 on the Cav1.2 channel in the CNS. To simulate acute mechanical traumatic brain injury (TBI), we used a needle to create parallel scratches across plates, which were cultured for 9 h. Meanwhile, Fluo4-AM-loaded laser scanning confocal microscopy with a dual wavelength of 488 nm/530 nm was employed to determine intracellular calcium concentrations ([Ca 2+ ] i ). We found that MAPK inhibitors impede TGF-β1-induced cell viability and that TGF-β1 recovered from the trauma-induced cell viability in neurons. Cav1.2 production was significantly decreased in the TGF-β1-treated (10 ng/mL) neurons. At this TGF-β1 concentration, Cav1.2 was significantly down-regulated in a time-dependent manner after 12 h. Moreover, TGF-β1 partially recovered the protein levels of Cav1.2 that were reduced by TBI. TGF-β1 significantly inhibited the fluorescence intensity of [Ca 2+ ] i increased by KCl and delayed the time of the peak [Ca 2+ ] i . The observed effects of TGF-β1 on Cav1.2 were regulated by MAPK inhibitors. The observed effects of TGF-β1 on P-JNK were also impeded by pre-incubation with the LTCC inhibitor (10 μM) nimodipine in trauma-injured neurons. Altogether, TGF-β1 regulated LTCCs through a mechanism dependent on MEK, JNK1/2 and p38 MAPK signal pathways in cortical neurons. Thus, we suggest the involvement of this mechanism in cell viability.

Oxidative stress and inflammation are involved in paraquat-induced cytotoxicity. Silymarin can exert a potent antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effect in various pathophysiological processes. The aim of this current study is to explore the protective effect and potential mechanism of silymarin in paraquat-induced macrophage injury. Cells were pretreated with different doses of silymarin for 3h before exposure to paraquat. At 24h after exposure to paraquat, the paraquat-induced cytotoxicity to macrophage was measured via the MTT assay and LDH release. The levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species, GSH-Px, SOD, and lipid peroxidation product malondialdehyde were measured to evaluate the oxidative effect of paraquat. NLRP3 inflammasome and cytokines secretion in macrophage exposed to paraquat at 24h were measured via immunofluorescence microscopy, western blot or Elisa. Our results revealed that paraquat could dramatically cause cytotoxicity and reactive oxygen species generation, enhance TXNIP expression, and induce NLRP3 inflammasome activation and cytokines secretion. The pretreatment with silymarin could remarkably reduce the cytotoxicity, promote the expression of Trx and antioxidant enzymes, and suppress the TXNIP and NLRP3 inflammasome activation. In conclusion, silymarin attenuated paraquat-induced cytotoxicity in macrophage by inhibiting oxidative stress, NLRP3 inflammasome activation, cytokines secretion and apoptosis., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The plant hormone auxin plays critical roles in plant growth and development. Auxin response factors (ARFs) are a class of transcription factors which regulate auxin-mediated gene expression. While the functions of ARFs in sporophytic development have been well characterized, their functions specific to gametophytic development have not been studied extensively. In this study, Arabidopsis ARF genes were selectively down-regulated in gametophytes by misexpression of targeted microRNAs (amiRARF234, amiRARFMP and MIR167a) to silence AtARF2-AtAEF4, AtARF5, AtARF6 and AtARF8. Embryo sacs in amiRARF234- and amiRARFMP-expressing plants exhibited identity defects in cells at the micropylar pole, such as formation of two cells with egg cell-like morphology, concomitant with loss of synergid marker expression and seed abortion. The pollen grains of the transgenic plants were morphologically aberrant and unviable, and the inclusions and nuclei were lost in the abnormal pollen grains. However, plants misexpressing MIR167a showed no obvious abnormal phenotypes in the embryo sacs and pollen grains. Overall, these results provide evidence that AtARF2-AtARF4 and AtARF5 play significant roles in regulating both female and male gametophyte development in Arabidopsis., (© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Histidine phosphotransfer proteins (HPs) are key elements of the two-component signaling system, which act as a shuttle to transfer phosphorylation signals from histidine kinases (HKs) to response regulators (RRs). CYTOKININ INDEPENDENT 1 (CKI1), a key regulator of central cell specification in the Arabidopsis female gametophyte, activates the cytokinin signaling pathway through the Arabidopsis histidine phosphotransfer proteins (AHPs). There are five HP genes in Arabidopsis, AHP1-AHP5, but it remains unknown which AHP genes act downstream of CKI1 in Arabidopsis female gametophyte development. Promoter activity analysis of AHP1-AHP5 in embryo sacs revealed AHP1, AHP2, AHP3, and AHP5 expression in the central cell. Phenotypic studies of various combinations of ahp mutants showed that triple mutations in AHP2, AHP3, and AHP5 resulted in defective embryo sac development. Using cell-specific single and double markers in the female gametophyte, the ahp2-2 ahp3 ahp5-2/+ triple mutant ovules showed loss of central cell and antipodal cell fates and gain of egg cell or synergid cell attributes, resembling the cki1 mutant phenotypes. These data suggest that AHP2, AHP3, and AHP5 are the major factors acting downstream of CKI1 in the two-component cytokinin signaling pathway to promote Arabidopsis female gametophyte development., (© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.)

A facile approach for the preparation of spiky TiO 2 /Au nanorod (NR) plasmonic photocatalysts has been demonstrated, which is through in situ nucleation and growth of spiky TiO 2 onto AuNRs. Different aspect ratios of AuNRs in 2.5, 2.7, 4.1 and 4.5 have been applied to prepare spiky TiO 2 /AuNR nanohybrids to achieve tunable and broad localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) bands. All spiky TiO 2 /AuNR nanohybrids exhibit enhanced light harvesting by extending visible light absorption range by both transverse and longitudinal LSPR bands and decreasing light reflectance by their unique spiky structures. Compared to the bare AuNRs, commercial TiO 2 (P25) and spiky TiO 2 /Au nanosphere photocatalysts, the spiky TiO 2 /AuNR photocatalysts exhibit significantly enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity in Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation due to their simultaneous enhancement in the light harvesting, charge utilization efficiency, and substrate accessibility. In particular, the spiky TiO 2 /AuNR-685 photocatalysts show the best photocatalytic activity with ∼98.9% of the RhB degraded within 90 min under the irradiation of 420-780 nm, which could be ascribed to the most extended visible light absorption range and sufficient photon energy of TiO 2 /AuNR-685 photocatalysts within this irradiation region. The bio-inspired nanostructure, as well as the facile and scalable fabrication approach, will open a new avenue for the rational design and preparation of high-performance photocatalysts for pollutant removal and water splitting.

Self-assembling inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) into macroscopic three dimensional (3D) architectures often requires the assistance of organic components, leaving residual organics in the resultant. In this work, organic-free MnO 2 aerogels with ultralow density have been achieved by the self-assembly of two dimensional (2D) MnO 2 nanosheets via an ice-templating approach. To the authors' best knowledge, it is the first reported case of constructing a high-purity inorganic aerogel from preformed NPs without using any functionalization or stabilization agents. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that an ultralight MnO 2 aerogel with a density as low as ∼0.53 mg cm -3 , which is the lightest metal oxide aerogel to date, can be well obtained by such an approach. The successful formation of the aerogel can be attributed to the enhanced van der Waals force between the 2D building blocks that have been more orderly arranged by the squeezing of ice crystals during the freezing process. Hence, this work shows a pioneering example of assembling inorganic NPs into aerogels relying only on the weak interactions between NPs ( e.g. van der Waals forces). It has also been demonstrated that the obtained MnO 2 aerogel can function as an effective absorbent for toxic reducing gas, owing to its strong oxidation ability and high porosity. The strategy presented herein holds good potential to be applied to the fabrication of other high-purity inorganic aerogels, especially those with 2D building blocks readily available.

Objective: To explore the survival time of autogeneic BMSCs labeled by superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) in rabbit intervertebral discs and the rule of migration so as to prove bases of gene therapy preventing intervertebral disc degeneration., Methods: Twelve rabbits were used in this experiment, aged 8-10 weeks, weighing 1.5-2.0 kg and neglecting their gender. BMSCs were separated from rabbits bone marrow by density gradient centrifugation and cultivated, and the 3rd generation of BMSCs were harvested and labeled with SPIO, which was mixed with poly-l-lysine. The labeling efficiency was evaluated by Prussian blue staining and transmission electron microscope. Trypanblau stain and MTT were performed to calculate the cell's activity. Rabbits were randomly divided into experimental group (n = 8) and control group (n = 4), the labeled BMSCs and non-labeled BMSCs (5 x 10(5)/mL) were injected into their own intervertebral discs (L1,2, L2,3, L3,4 and L4,5), respectively. At 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks, the discs were treated with Perl's fluid to observe cell survival and distribution., Results: The labeling efficiency of BMSCs with SPIO was 95.65% +/- 1.06%, the cell activity was 98.28% +/- 0.85%. There was no statistically significant difference in cell proliferation within 7 days between non-labeled and labeled cells (P > 0.05). After 8 weeks of operation, the injected cells was alive., Conclusion: Labeled BMSCs with SPIO is feasible in vitro and in vivo, and the cells can survive more than 8 weeks in rabbit discs.

Objective: To investigate the feasibility and effect of inducing adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) treated with growth differentiation factor 5 (GDF-5) to undergo chondrogenic differentiation in vitro., Methods: Six healthy Japanese rabbits aged 3 months (2-3 kg) of clean grade were chosen, irrespective of sex. ADSCs were isolated and cultured with collagenase digestion, then were detected and identified by vimentin immunohistochemistry and CD44, CD49d, CD106 immunofluorescence staining. ADSCs at passage 3 were used and the cell density was adjusted to 1 x 10(6)/mL, then the ADSCs were treated with 0, 10, 100 ng/mL GDF-5 and common cultural medium, respectively. The morphology changes of the induced ADSCs were observed by inverted contrast phase microscope and their growth state were detected by MTT. The mRNA quantities of Col II and proteoglycan expressed by the induced ADSCs were detected with RT-PCR. The Col II proteoglycan synthesized by the induced ADSCs were detected with alcian blue staining, toluidine blue staining, immunohistochemistry staining, and Western blot method., Results: ADSCs mostly presented small sphere, fusiform and polygon shape with positive expression of CD44 and CD49d and negative expression of CD106 and vimentin. The ADSCs treated with 100 ng/mL GDF-5 presented sphere or sphere-like change and vigorous proliferation. The mRNA quantities of Col II and proteoglycan synthesized by the induced ADSCs treated with 0, 10, 100 ng/mL GDF-5 and common cultural medium increased in a dose-dependent manner at 7 days. There were significant differences among all the groups (P < 0.05), except that no significant difference was evident between the 0 ng/mL group and the 10 ng/mL group (P > 0.05). When ADSCs were treated with 100 ng/mL GDF-5 for 14 days, the Col II and the mRNA and protein quantities of proteoglycan reached the peak, and the results of alcian blue, toluidine blue and Col II immunohistochemistry staining were positive., Conclusion: ADSCs treated with certain concentration of GDF-5 have higher expression of Col II and proteoglycan and possess partial biological function of chondrocyte.

The PI3K-Akt pathway is frequently upregulated in human tumors. Recently, somatic mutations of PIK3CA, encoding p110alpha catalytic subunit of Class IA PI3Ks, have been found in various cancers. The two most common types of p110alpha mutants, those in the helical and kinase domains, have been shown to be very potent in Akt activation and oncogenic transformation by several groups. Notably these common mutations may not enhance recruitment of p110alpha to the plasma membrane where its substrates are located. We have investigated the effect of membrane localization on common PIK3CA tumor mutants via myristoylation. In addition we have studied a third class of less frequent mutants in the p85-binding domain, in an attempt to gain insight into p85's inhibitory effect on p110alpha. This article briefly reviews and extends the literature on mutant forms of p110alpha.

Objective: To study the manufacture of pelvic mirror physical model using rapid prototyping and the accuracy of the models., Methods: The pelvic CT images were acquired by spiral CT thin slice scanning, and the slicing data of pelvis were created from these CT images by computer image-processing. Then the pelvic mirror physical model was manufactured using rapid prototyping. The model of a cadaver pelvis and the pelvic model of an experimental dog were manufactured respectively using the method above, and the accuracy of the models were examined., Results: The model of the cadaver pelvis manufactured with this method was very similar to the cadaver pelvis. So was the pelvic model of the experimental dog., Conclusion: The manufacture of pelvic mirror physical model using rapid prototyping was feasible, and the models were quite accurate.